Science and Technology

Sci-Tech: Tesla Motors to offer range boost to Roadster [Update]

Elon Musk says that Tesla Motors will offer an upgrade to the Roadster, which is no longer in production, that will increase the range from around 240 miles (~385 km) to nearly 400 miles (~640 km) – Elon Musk on Twitter:

Roadster upgrade will enable non-stop travel from LA to SF — almost 400 mile range. Details tmrw. Merry Christmas!”

That’s close to the max range of most gasoline powered cars. There is still the big challenge to lower the very high cost of the battery packs but Tesla is clearly making good progress in EV technology.

Earlier in the week, Tesla also demonstrated a fast battery swap system for the Model S:

Update: Elon added this to his tweet above – Elon Musk on Twitter:

Should mention that a battery pack upgrade is not coming soon for the Model S, but it obviously *will* happen long-term.

Update 2: Here are the details : Roadster 3.0 – Blog/Tesla Motors –

Battery technology has continued a steady improvement in recent years, as has our experience in optimizing total vehicle efficiency through Model S development. We have long been excited to apply our learning back to our first vehicle, and are thrilled to do just that with the prototype Roadster 3.0 package. It consists of three main improvement areas.

1. Batteries
The original Roadster battery was the very first lithium ion battery put into production in any vehicle. It was state of the art in 2008, but cell technology has improved substantially since then. We have identified a new cell that has 31% more energy than the original Roadster cell. Using this new cell we have created a battery pack that delivers roughly 70kWh in the same package as the original battery.

2. Aerodynamics
The original Roadster had a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.36. Using modern computational methods we expect to make a 15% improvement, dropping the total Cd down to 0.31 with a retrofit aero kit.

3. Rolling Resistance
The original Roadster tires have a rolling resistance coefficient (Crr) of 11.0 kg/ton. New tires that we will use on the Roadster 3.0 have a Crr of roughly 8.9 kg/ton, about a 20% improvement. We are also making improvements in the wheel bearings and residual brake drag that further reduce overall rolling resistance of the car.

Summary
Combining all of these improvements we can achieve a predicted 40-50% improvement on range between the original Roadster and Roadster 3.0. There is a set of speeds and driving conditions where we can confidently drive the Roadster 3.0 over 400 miles. We will be demonstrating this in the real world during a non-stop drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles in the early weeks of 2015.

Appointments for upgrading Roadsters will be taken this spring once the new battery pack finishes safety validation. We are confident that this will not be the last update the Roadster will receive in the many years to come.

Astronomy, Multiple media

Five theories for a Christmas star

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Here’s  an info-graphic from astroshop.eu about possible astronomical explanations for the Star of Bethlehem:

Infographic: What was the Star of Bethlehem?

Education, Space Arts, Space participation

Commercial Crew Program 2015 Children’s Artwork Calendar now available

I mentioned here earlier the call by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program for artwork submissions for possible inclusion in a 2015 CCP calendar. The calendar can now be downloaded and printed:

CommercialCrewCalendar_ChildrensArt

Education, Space participation, Space Science

DreamUP! – Raising money to send student projects to space

The DreamUP! program created by NanoRacks and FISE ( Foundation for International Space Education) aims to get STEM projects onto the International Space Station:

DreamUp: NanoRacks Breaking New Ground in STEM Education

Houston, TX—December 19th, 2014 – DreamUp, powered by NanoRacks, is a nonprofit organization now providing a place for student project teams to raise required funds to fly a science experiment to the International Space Station (ISS).

The goal of DreamUp is to help students integrate into the commercial space community by delivering their experiments via NanoRacks to the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the ISS.

“Whether you are a large company or a high school student, space is complex…and although it isn’t quite as expensive as in the past, it’s still outside of the average student budget” says DreamUp Director Patricia Mayes. “Our platforms give access to the frontlines of space research and we see all of our educational payloads as a contribution to the space industry. We are thrilled to see NASA and the ISS Program Office supporting commercial and student research on Station.”

DreamUp allows junior high, high school, and undergraduate college students to take advantage of NanoRacks’ three standardized research platforms on the International Space Station by establishing an account for each team to hold donations towards the costs. These platforms include: NanoLabs, and the NanoRacks Platform-3 and Centrifuge. Find out more about NanoRacks’ standardized research platforms onboard the ISS.

The first team to join the revamped DreamUp program calls themselves “Chicks in Space.” This team, made up of three sisters, is on the search for more science than they receive in a regular school day. The sisters, Lillith, MaryAnn, and Adia, invented a microgravity plant growing chamber named ‘The Garden of E.T.O.N. (Extra Terrestrial Organic Nutrition). They placed as semi-finalists in a 2013 National STEM contest and now want to test their project on the ISS. The Garden of E.T.O.N. uses centrifuge to water the plants in space.

http://vimeo.com/114300027

The girls have raised $1,200 out of a required $15,000 to get to space. To learn more about Chicks’ in Space experiment, check out their experiment.com page.

To further engage space youth, students across the world now have an opportunity to report where they spot the ISS flying over them, and tweet their story with the hashtag #ISSDreamUp for the chance to win a prize each month from DreamUp and NanoRacks.

For more information on DreamUp student projects and how to spot the ISS, please visit: www.unitedspaceschool.org/dreamup/

Download the full press release and further press inquiries, please contact Abby Dickes at 202 750 0914.

About NanoRacks, LLC:
NanoRacks LLC was formed in 2009 to provide commercial hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station via a Space Act Agreement with NASA. NanoRacks’ main office is in Houston, Texas, right alongside the NASA Johnson Space Center. The Business Development office is in Washington, DC. The Company seeks to democratize outer space utilization by owning and marketing its own family of research equipment and by providing low-cost, high quality services in low-earth orbit and beyond.

To date over 200 payloads have been deployed by the Company on the International Space Station and our customer base includes the European Space Agency (ESA) the German Space Agency (DLR,) the American space agency (NASA,) US Government Agencies, Planet Labs, Urthecast, Space Florida, NCESSE, Virgin Galactic, pharmaceutical drug companies, and organizations in Vietnam, UK, Romania and Israel. Our customer base has propelled NanoRacks into a leadership position in understanding the emerging commercial market for low-earth orbit utilization.

Everyone can participate in space